Saturday, January 06, 2007

From time to time on my various blogs I've made small, humorous (at least to me) comments and asides concerning the inevitable replacement of human beings as the dominant species on this planet, the replacements being, or course, the machines. I do so only in fun, and yet is it not true that we make jokes about the things we fear, sort of whistling in the dark? Well, say hello to ASIMO. Unless ASIMO is merely a sleight-of-hand ruse by the machines to distract us from what they're actually up to, it seems that we have some time yet before the ascendancy of the androids.

ASIMO, created by Honda and billed as "The World's Most Advanced Humanoid Robot," is purported to feature "the ability to pursue key tasks in a real-life environment." That sounds pretty good, but what does it mean? Apparently it can walk up and down stairs, recognize moving objects and interpret the postures and gestures of people in its view. The newest ASIMO, which will debut in North America at the Las Vegas Convention Center at the January 8-11, 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), is supposed to be able to do the job of a receptionist and even deliver drinks on a tray. And this guy can run! He can do a healthy 3.7 mph. (Maybe not too swift when you consider that some humans can do almost 23 mph.)

So, all things considered, we can probably count on another 10 to 20 years of domination. At this point, the robots are little more than human-child-sized Tickle-Me-Elmoes™. Unless they've got something better going on sub rosa. You'd better be careful though, because if you knock ASIMO over, he can get back up on his own. Fair warning.